Warped
by The Perfectly Imperfect One
Summary: Within the last few weeks my outlook on life has completely changed. Nothing is as it should be. Demons, shadowhunters, vampires- those are all fairytales. Except they're not. They came and they screwed up my simple, human life and changed it into something it didn't have to be. All because of some cup and a guy who wanted to get more power.
1. Chapter 1

I heard a loud crash and my eyes flew open. That was not good. That was most definitely not good. There was another crash and I jumped out of my bed. Well, I sort of did. It was more of a sideways fall. I pushed myself to my feet quickly and grabbed whatever I could to defend myself and I cautiously approached my bedroom door. There were goosebumps on my legs- all I wore to bed was a baggy T-shirt and some spandex shorts.

I grabbed the door knob and squared my shoulders. _If you don't open the door, they will come in and find you anyways._ I threw it open and brandished my hairbrush in front of me. There were six men standing in my hallway all dressed in black leather. They were carrying more weapons than I could count, four of which were held to the throats of my family. The other two were pointed at me.

"Who are you?" my voice quivered and I could feel my body begin to tremble. _Fear is just an emotion. Don't let it control you._ I swallowed and spoke a little more surely, "What do you want with us?"

"Well, my dear, we want you to come with us." The one closest to me said. He wasn't currently pointing anything sharp at any of my family members. He had short dark hair and scars running up and down his neck. He also had tattoos all over his body, just like all the others. They were like gang symbols- the tattoos were all the same.

"Well obviously we don't want to come with you, so you're going to have to give me a better reason than that." my sisters were crying and so was my mother. My dad just looked pissed. All of them also were dressed for bed, and their hair was messy and my dad was even bleeding on his arm. THis was not okay.

The man raised his eyebrow at me. "So much sass! We don't need to give you any reason at all, my dear. All you need to know is that Eris wants you, and what Eris wants, he gets."

"Ouuu good one. Which movie did you get that from?" I said before I could take it back. When I'm uncomfortable or scared I sort of vomit up words, and sass.

He frowned now. "That's enough stalling. It's time for you to come with us, willingly or not."

"Before we go, can we address that this Eris character carries a female's name. The poor kid. His mother must not have liked him very much..."

"It's not his real name. No one knows his real name. He thinks it's funny- Eris being Strife."

"Hilarious." I couldn't help but add.

"That's enough. Now, shut up and come." he snarled.

I didn't walk toward him so he grabbed my arm, making sure to dig his fingers in. I winced. That was going to leave a mark. My heart was beating overtime in my chest and the pace doubled when I felt the kiss of a blade at my spine.

"One wrong move and this goes through your spine." he whispered against my neck.

I shivered and didn't respond, walking obediently down my stairs and out into the cool air. I saw some black vans at the bottom of my driveway and wondered why no one on my street thought that this was weird. There must be someone awake at three in the morning.

"Ow!" I felt something sharp jab my jugular and then the world started to go spotty. "Mum? Dad?" I looked around but all I could see were the black figures. I couldn't see my family anymore.

The black spots grew and it became increasingly harder to see. My limbs felt so heavy and I just wanted to lie down, only for a second. I could close my eyes for just a second. Resting them wouldn't hurt...

Then the darkness swallowed me whole.

**I know this was short, but it's the first chapter and it is just meant to start you off! Please review if you enjoyed this! I love you all and Happy Christmas 3333**


	2. Chapter 2

I came to slowly, feeling first before I opened my eyes. I was somewhere cold and slightly damp. It was almost like the caves I had been to as a child. It smelled like wet rock and I had to stop from scrunching my nose at the smell of iron.

I opened my eyes and my heart stopped. It wasn't iron at all. It was blood. It wasn't just anyone's blood, either. It was my mother's. It was all over her mouth and down her chin and neck and there was so much of it that I couldn't see where the wound originated. "Mum!" I cried and tried to get to her. Metal bit into my wrists and ankles and I looked down to see manacles attached to them, running to an anchor in the floor.

I pushed myself into a sitting position and surveyed the rest of the room. My father and my two sisters were on the right hand wall, also manacled. My mother and I were across from each other, on the north and south walls. The left hand side was all metal bars. The rest of my family was already awake, except my mother.

"What did they do to her?" my voice was scratchy. I hadn't had a drink since the night they had kidnapped us at dinner, before I had gone to bed. Who knows how long it had been since they had taken us.

"They forced her to drink blood from a cup." my dad's voice broke. He was trying so hard to keep it together, so that we wouldn't be as scared. Too bad he couldn't shield us from what we were old enough to figure out for ourselves.

"Are they some kind of vampire loving cult or something?" I tried not to puke as I looked at the blood on my mother's face and around her neck again. The thought of being forced to drink someone's blood was absolutely repulsive.

My dad shook his head. "They claim to be Nephilim, protectors of humans."

I snorted. "Too bad they don't protect humans from themselves."

"We are helping you." a voice said, coming from outside the cell and down the hall a little. It was dimly lit, so it was hard to see anything farther than a foot away from the barred wall.

"I'm sure Hitler said that too before he killed the jews in the concentration camps." I replied icily. "It didn't make it true then, and it isn't true now."

A man strode out of the shadows and scowled at me. "Watch your mouth, mundane, or I will see to it that you will never forget this experience and the power that we have over you." He was medium height and rather unremarkable. The only thing that really made him stand out was the way that his eyes were constantly moving. He was always looking around for potential threats, or at least I assume that's what he was doing. Truthfully he had rather nice eyes but that was not something I wanted to think about one of my captors. His hair was a dirty brown but his eyes were a deep golden brown, almost as if his evil hadn't quite reached every part of him yet.

"Who do you think you _are_?" I snapped. He came and talked about hurting me, and brushed off hurting my mother and potentially the rest of my family. That wasn't okay.

"I am Hawk, Eris' right hand man." he smiled, and that was when I could see the crazy in him. His once nice eyes lit up with an eery light and his smile was all teeth. He was obviously very proud of himself.

"That was rhetorical. What I was really asking was: how do you justify kidnapping people and torturing them?" I was almost crying I was so angry and scared. Joss and Amy were crying silently, holding hands. My two strong little sisters.

"We are not torturing you. We are helping you. We are giving you something to make you stronger, and if you are not strong in the first place then you will not survive. We are doing this for the greater good." I could see that he really believed that, too. He probably didn't care who he hurt or what he did as long as he got to Eris' end goal.

"The whole 'greater good' thing is absolute bullshit. The greater good doesn't exist. Everyone needs something different!" I could feel tears start to stream down my face. I couldn't even see anything around them. The world was just a dark grey and black blur.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"What the many _needs_ is to survive!" I cried.

"But the many wont need to do this if you few do." he replied cooly. He acted as if he was totally unaffected by my tears. He probably saw them all the time before killing people.

I didn't dignify that with a response. I turned away and looked into the eyes of my sisters. "We're going to survive this." I grabbed Amy's hand, who was closer to me. She was the youngest of us all and she was handling this better than most girls would have at her age, and Joss was doing pretty well too. "We're stronger than they are."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, do, because we need you to get through this." he flashed his teeth at us in what I thought was supposed to be a smile, and then turned and receded into the shadows.

"Ah!" My mother cried and started writhing on the floor. She began screaming bloody murder, but her eyes hadn't opened yet. I could only imagine that this was from the blood they had force fed her while I'd still been sedated.

"Mum!" I cried at the same time as my dad and my sisters cried out for her. We all struggled against our chains to try and get to her but all we ended up with was bleeding wrists and sore arms.

She continued to scream and writhe and slowly the screams became yells, the yells became moans and then she was silent. I looked at her chest what felt like hours later and wished I could get close enough to see if she was still breathing.

"Stella?" my dad croaked. He had tear streaks down his face from seeing her in so much pain and I almost couldn't bear looking at him. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response. After awhile we all just settled back against the walls, curling into ourselves, wishing that the world hadn't so suddenly changed for us. In only a few days the world went from being happy and mostly safe to dark and unrelenting. Nobody really cares about anyone in this world but themself, and maybe a few other people that they call family. The world we were now living in had no compassion or love.

All this is is a warped version of hell.

**So that is chapter two! I hope you guys liked it! Please review it makes my day! :) Also, if you have time please feel free to check out my other stories as well and REVIEW I love you all! Goodnight and goodbye for now.**


	3. Chapter 3

The creaking of the barred door woke me up and it took a few seconds for my eyes to focus in the dim light. There were three unrecognisable men here as well as Hawk, our tormentor's right hand man. Not that I had ever actually seen said tormentor, but I didn't know if I wanted to. Sometimes not knowing seemed like the happier option. Not that this place had any happiness at all, but things can always get worse.

"Good morning, Atera, Joseph, Amy, Joss." he even tried a smile, which boiled my insides. He stepped right over my mother's body and walked straight for my father. He was holding a golden cup that had a lot of designs and engraved patterns on it.

"I can't really tell what time of day- or night- it is in here. So, it's not really good, is it?" I snapped and then my eyes widened when I realized what Hawk was about to do. "Stop it! Stop! Hawk! No!" I started straining at my bindings, wishing that he hadn't just put my sisters and I close together, that he had put us all close together.

"Drink this, and if you are strong, you will become stronger." Hawk said, trying and failing to make it sound pleasant. I had no doubt there was blood in that cup too.

"No." my dad growled at him, and spat in his face.

Hawk scowled and wiped his face off, gritting his teeth. "Drink this now or we will make your daughters drink it first, and if they are anything like their mother then you will also have to watch them die afterwards." his words dripped menace, and Amy whimpered. We were too young for this. Not that any person of any age should have to deal with this, but it is especially bad when you are getting tortured but you're not even old enough to drive a car.

My dad gave us one look and I saw he had made his decision. "Dad, no." he brought the cup up to his lips and grimaced before downing the entire contents. "NO!" I shrieked, but it came out strangled. I thrashed some more and spat some very colourful words at Hawk, who just ate it up.

"For that, my dear Atera, you will be the last. You will have to watch everyone in your family go through this and hope that they survive." he smiled and it sent shivers down my spine. I didn't want to have to watch them die. But, it would be the brave thing to do. At least one of my little sisters wouldn't be the last one left, rotting in a cell by herself with no comfort left. My heart dropped at the thought of what could happen to me if none of them survived. What _would_ happen to me if none of them survived.

"You will _never_ break me. Not even if you kill me." I spat and then looked away from him, into the deep brown eyes of my sisters. "We will get through this. We are strong."

...

...

Time passes differently when you have nothing to tell how it passes. Without the light of the sun, a clock, or any sort of device you can never really tell what time it is other than by when you get tired. By my count we could have been down here for a week, or we could have been down here for two days. I fell asleep and woke up too many times to count, and when you sleep you can never tell how long you have slept.

I spent my time mostly humming tunes to reassure my sisters, and examining my clothes. I was still in the short spandex shorts and baggy T-shirt I wore to bed the night of our kidnapping. They were a little more worn out, and were definitely beginning to stink. I had so much dirt in places I never knew dirt could reach, and my hair had never been so greasy. Everyone else's clothes were the same way; dirty, worn, as if we had been living here for years instead of days. I guess that's what happens when the only way to pass the time is to play rub-the-edge-of-your-t-shirt-until-it-goes-threadbare.

I sighed, removing my hand from the bottom of my shirt. They had taken my mother's dead body with them when they had left, and I couldn't get the image of her lying there on the floor out of my mind. Her eyes had been blank, all the colour had gone out of them and they were left with a dull brown glossiness. The blood spattered all over her clothes was almost too much to handle. Dreams kept appearing with her there, drinking from the cup, but then in the dream a man jumps up and slits her throat and I am chained, helpless to stop it.

My dad's yelling jolted me out of my thoughts. He began to writhe just like my mother had and I couldn't help but let out a little sob. He was writhing with so much force that I could tell he was bruising himself, not that that would matter. If what happened to mum was any indication, he wasn't going to last long enough to complain about bruising.

His head slammed back hard against the floor and a loud crack resounded in the room, and was followed by a vomit-inducing smell of brain fluid. "Don't look!" I cried and tried to get my sisters to turn their heads away. He was no longer moving at all.

The floor was spattered with his blood, and fluids were oozing from where his head was crushed at the back. I could see some of his brain splattered on the floor, looking all pink and red with blood. When my sisters and I were younger, we always used to say that when you take all the toppings and the cheese off pizza it kind of looks like brains. I will never eat pizza again.

I let out a small sob, and then another, and then they just came. It was then that it all really hit me. My mother was dead as well as my father. I was now the one who had to take care of my sisters and if they couldn't, how could I? No, this can't be happening. No, no, no, no, no, no, this is wrong, this isn't allowed! They can't be dead, not my parents. My parents can't die, that's impossible. I need them. They can't be gone. They can't be... Another sob escaped my throat and I let my head fall into my hands.

My sisters were already crying and so we all just sat there, on the floor crying, feeling helpless and alone. Too bad this was only the start.

...

...

"Atera! Amy! Joss! So good to see you girls, are you well?" Hawk laughed as he spoke, acting as if we were long-time friends and not recently made enemies.

My eyes narrowed at him and I exploded. "I can't _believe_ you! You come to my house, take my family and I from our home, kill both of my parents and then you mock us by asking how we are! How do you think we are, you sociopathic douchebag!"

"Now, now, Atera. Anger doesn't become you."

"Ya, well I'm going to 'become' a lot angrier if you hurt anyone else." I snarled feeling almost like a dog who had been caged and abused. If I ever got out of this I did not want to turn feral.

"We are not hurting you! Can you not see that? We are merely weeding out the weak from the strong. " he opened the door and got two men to remove my father's body, and I winced at the squelching sound his head made when they lifted it.

"Well while you're weeding us out can you also clean the floor because I don't want the smell of dead and blood to be with me to my deathbed." I scowled.

"Certainly." he nodded, and entered with the cup again. "In the meantime, I'm going to get Joss and Amy to drink from the cup."

"No! Not yet! Can't we wait or something?" I searched my brain for a possible alternative, any alternative to this. I didn't want to lose my sisters too.

"No. That would be illogical considering the outcome would be the same today or in three days." he answered and handed Joss the cup.

"I love you Atera and Amy. Don't worry, we will be fine." Joss smiled weakly at me and grimaced before drinking half of the cup. She wiped her mouth and handed Hawk back the cup, who then handed it to Amy.

Her lip quivered and she looked at me for reassurance. "We're in this together, until the end." I grabbed her hand, which was barely reachable and slightly uncomfortable with my manacles. She nodded and drank the rest, and handed the cup back to Hawk.

I stayed awake beside them the entire time. I was the oldest so I had to comfort them. So I did. For hours we sang songs and tried to forget that in a few minutes they could be writhing in pain just like both of our parents.

"Do you think that there is a God?" Amy asked me.

I nodded at her. "I think so. I mean, if there isn't someone up there who loves me, why would you guys love me?" I said, and that seemed to satisfy her.

"So you think that we will go to heaven and see mum and dad?" she asked again, tears bright in her eyes.

"Yes, I think that God is gentle and kind, and so heaven is an extra special place. You get to be happy all the time there." I smiled. "You wont need to worry about anything here anymore."

"That's good. That way I don't need to be scared." she smiled slightly and so did Joss.

Joss' smile turned into a gasp of pain, and then her eyes rolled back into her head with one last scream and she flopped to the ground. Seconds later Amy did the same.

"No!" This wasn't right. They were supposed to survive. Wait. They hadn't started writhing like my parents. Maybe that means it had worked! I reached over, sick with anticipation and felt Amy's wrist for a pulse. My heart sank ten feet under. She had none, and I was willing to bet that since her and Joss had both fallen the exact same way that Joss didn't either. They were both dead.

And I was totally alone.

**Voila, chapter 3! I hope you liked it! If you did please review! They make my day! :) **


	4. Chapter 4

"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..." I sang quietly as tears ran down my face. The song of my childhood turned eery as it bounced off the walls. I had not been able to concentrate on anything for the last few hours. The bodies of my sisters remained in the cell with me, unmoving as a constant reminder that I was next. "Lord, help the mister, who comes between me and my sisters.." I heard footsteps and smiled coldly at Hawk. "Back for more?"

He scanned the floor and sighed when he saw the two lifeless bodies of my sisters. "Pity."

"The real pity is that you have not yet cleaned the floor for me. What is a girl to do when her floor has brain juice and blood all over it?" a hysterical laugh bubbled up and I grinned, embracing the feeling. This was all really funny. I mean, death, ha! Who cares that my parents and sisters were all dead, leaving me completely and totally alone? Who cares that I was going to die next, probably within the next few hours? Nobody cares! I am just a silly human girl so why shouldn't I find this all silly!?

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly not expecting that. "Are you ready, Atera?"

"I've been ready my whole life." I grinned and reached for the cup. Soon, this would all be over. One minute of pain and then blessed relief. I wouldn't ever have to think about the pain this had caused because I would be with my family again, and I was ready to see them. I had nothing left to hold onto in this world.

He did not hand me the cup right away. "What has changed your mind?"

"I have nothing left to hold onto." I smiled. "This is all I have left." and soon I will be nothing at all.

"Very well then. Drink up." he passed it to me.

I toasted it to him and then drank all the way to the bottom, trying not to cough at how much it burned my throat. It tasted disgusting and I had the hardest time not gagging it up. In the end, I made a show of licking my lips as I handed him back the cup. "Perfection."

He nodded once more-a gesture of his that was really beginning to annoy me with how non-committal it is- and stopped halfway through turning around. "If this is the last time we speak, farewell, my dear. You have certainly opened my eyes to a few things."

I smiled an insane smile. "Oh? And what are those?"

"The weak can still fight back."

My smile faded. "Weakness is subjective."

It was his turn to smile. "You continue to teach me. Too bad you may not be able to any longer. For both our sakes I hope you survive this. I believe you and I could be very close if you do."

I couldn't help but shudder at what he was implying. Absolutely not. But I did not expect to survive this so I smiled back at him. "We certainly could. Bye, now." I waved a manacled hand at him and watched him leave. "Too bad I will not survive for you, dear Hawk." I said, but he was too far to hear me. Now all I could do was wait.

...

...

I woke screaming. Every inch of my body was on fire, as if the elixir of blood I had drank had infused me with some sort of acid. Ho tears streamed from my eyes and I tried to keep from smashing my head in like my father. All I had to do was tough this out and then everything would be over. My arms and legs began spasming uncontrollably, and if I had had any food in my stomach it would have been spread across the floor. Blessedly, the blackness came and swallowed me whole, and I welcomed it with open arms.

...

...

I jolted awake to hear a scuffling beside me. I kept my eyes closed for a second, and smiled inwardly. I was in heaven now. There was no more pain in my limbs. I felt stronger than I ever had and I was excited to see my family again. But, I wanted to remember this feeling, so that in ages to come I would remember how important my family is to me.

"Dead." said one voice. It was obviously male, sounding a little older than me.

"Dead." The other agreed. They were obviously my angels come to lead me to my family.

I opened my eyes and smiled at them. "Well, of course I'm dead, or else you wouldn't be here."

"What are you talking about?" The one who had spoken first said.

"I drank this potion and-" I stopped in the middle of my speech. I was still in the cell room. This can't be right. Heaven doesn't look like this. I saw my sisters bodies on the floor and realized who they had been talking about. I wasn't the one who was dead. "But how.. I have to be.. this isn't... No I can't be.." my hand flew to my mouth and I let out a sob.

The one who had spoken first lifted an eyebrow at me. "You're upset to be alive?" He was quite tall and had nice dark brown eyes and light brown-blonde hair. He was very tanned and had a body of lean muscle.

"Well with what they put her through I'm guessing she's not to thrilled to have been denied a way out." the other responded. He was taller by a few inches, but they were equally attractive. This one had vibrant blue eyes and dark hair that fell around his face in waves. He was well muscled and fairly pale with full lips.

Both boys were in full black, and they were carrying swords and a shining stone. They had tattoos crawling up their bodies from ankles to neck.

"Who are you?" I calmed down. If they were here with weapons maybe they were here to help me.

"I'm Dragon and that is Harry, and we are here to rescue you." said the dark-haired one. He came over and took out what looked like a pen. He drew a small symbol on each of my manacles and then they heated up a little and burst off. I rubbed my wrists and was shocked to see the blisters and angry red of my skin.

"Thank you." I nodded. "But how do you presume to get us out. I was not awake when they brought us in here..." I turned away from my sisters and looked them head on. "There is no way you can get us out here against these monsters."

"Well, lucky for you we are evenly matched." Harry grinned at me.

My eyes widened. "You're one of _them, _aren't you?" I stood and walked backwards, away from them. "You're Nephilim."

Dragon held up his hands in a peaceful gesture and walked slowly towards me. "We're not here to hurt you. We're trying to help you. We're not the bad guys here. Just like there are good and bad humans, there are good and bad shadowhunters, and we're some of the good ones."

My back hit the wall and I couldn't keep backing away. "You could've come a little sooner." my eyes flicked unwillingly to the bodies of my sisters. "You could have saved them. I wouldn't have had to drink from that cup..." my eyes widened and realization hit me. "He said he wanted to make more of you, and that we were the first to help him... I'm one of you now, aren't I?"

A man ran into the room just then. He was dressed just the same as the other two, and armed to the hilt just as they were. He was closer to thirty and had brown skin and dark, curly hair. His eyes were a deep brown and they were insistent. "We need to go. Now."

I nodded and ran after them. I could figure this all out after I was out of here. I didn't need to know what I was to be able to run. We saw some men running towards us and the boys turned around with me following close behind. We swerved left and stopped at a pool of water. "There must be a way out through here." I said. "There is light on the other side."

The men nodded and Harry went to jump in first. "Wait." I said. "I'm trained as a lifeguard, let me."

He started to protest, but I silenced him with a look and hopped in. I swam right to where the wall was and stuck my foot underneath to see how long I would need to hold my breath. Hopefully the other side wasn't just a container of water with no air at the top. "Do you have any rope?" I asked. Dragon threw me some and I tied it around my waist. "If I pull once it means no, and if I pull twice it means come on."

They nodded and Dragon tied the other end around his waist. "Be careful."

I gulped air into my lungs and went under the surface, pushing myself under the wall. I tried not to panic when I felt a current start to try and pull me downwards. I kept kicking and the presence of the wall above me disappeared. Now I would find out if there was a top to this. I surfaced and grinned, pulling twice. I was in the middle of some cave. The other three surfaced beside me and looked around as the swam to the edge. There was a two foot shelf around the edge of this cave. The light was coming from a hole in the roof.

"Did you happen to check for exits before you pulled us into here?" Harry scowled.

I untied the rope from my waist and tossed it back to Dragon. "Would you rather be stuck in there with those men? You are welcome to go back, if you would rather." I smiled fakely.

The older man was surveying the outer wall, looking for something. He turned to us and sighed. "How good are you at rock climbing?"

My eyes widened. "Could be better."

The other two just laughed and went to climb the wall. We were going t have to exit through the top it seemed, and the top was about a hundred feet up. I hesitantly went to the wall and grabbed some holds, looking upwards to see if there was a small ledge I could rest on halfway through. I had no such luck. The stone bit into my fingers and the wall was nerve-wrackingly slippery. The water on my clothes didn't help as it dripped all over my feet.

"Don't look down.." I repeated to myself. "You can do this." I looked down and all the breath was sucked out of me. I was extremely high up. I took a deep breath in and kept going, fear pumping adrenaline through my veins. The boys were all ten feet higher than me and gaining fast. I was only half of the way and they were almost done. I tried to pick up my pace and smiled when I saw that I was beginning to get the hang of it.

"Ah!" I yelped as my hand slipped, and I dropped a few feet. My heart was pounding and I just wanted this to be over with. I hurried the last few feet and When I was at the top the boys helped me over the lip of the hole. I lay back on the top of the cave and gulped air into my lungs and tried to slow my heart rate down.

"I... am... never... doing... that... again..." I said between gasps.

The others laughed. "It wasn't so bad." Harry grinned.

"Speak for yourself." I answered, sitting up. We were at the top of a small hill in the middle of a field. It wasn't a cave at all, or at least not an above ground one. There was grass covering everything outside a three foot radius of the hole. It was almost indiscernible to outside eyes. "Let's get out of here." I stated and stood, shaking a little.

"Let's." The man agreed. "I'm Captain by the way."

I smiled, "Atera." I started walking and black spots danced around my eyes, and I got a head rush. My knees buckled and I couldn't feel anything anymore. "That's... weird..." I breathed and I felt strong arms wrap around me. The last thing I saw were a pair of blue eyes staring down at me.

**Voila, chapter four! PLEASE REVIEW :) Seriously, you guys are the best! **


	5. Chapter 5

"This girl sleeps like the dead..." a masculine voice whispered from somewhere above me.

I was lying on a soft bed, surrounded by plush blankets and pillows. Everything smelled extremely clean and fresh, like they had just washed it all. I moved slightly and felt it rub on bare skin. I had no clothes on at all. I didn't want to think about who had taken them off of me. I even smelled clean. Most of my hair was pushed back but from the feel of it someone had washed it for me as well.

"Well she did just survive a kidnapping and then watching the gruesome murders of every member of her family.." answered another masculine voice. Wherever I was, it was full of men.

I heard a smack and an 'ow' and then a feminine voice said, "Stop it! Both of you! You don't need to be here. I am taking care of her. Her body is all healed, now her mind just needs to want to heal. She will wake when she is ready."

The boys harrumphed and the first voice answered, "We saved her, we just want to make sure that our effort wasn't for nothing."

"Well I will keep her safe." the girl retorted.

I opened my eyes hesitantly, no longer wanting to pretend to be asleep. I was going to have to face the world at one time so I may as well be proactive about it. The light was so bright all I could do for the first few seconds was squint, and then blessedly my eyes adjusted. I was in an infirmary with large domed ceilings and a wide isle in a bed of all white. Sitting on the bed to the right of me was Harry and standing at the foot of my bed was Dragon. To my left was a girl with dark brown hair with red dip died tips and light blue eyes. The boys were lounging around and she was holding at clipboard glaring at them. She was obviously their junior and wasn't too impressed with it.

"Nobody needs to keep me safe, I can do that just fine on my own." I smiled even though the first part came out as a croak. My mouth was extremely dry.

All eyes turned to me at the same time and they all looked me up and down to make sure nothing had changed. The girl came over and passed me some water as if she knew that I was thirsty. "Drink this." I gladly took it and slowly sipped at it even though I really wanted to gulp it down. "I'm Red, Dragon's sister. I'm like the unofficial medic here." she smiled.

"You're pretty young to be a medic." I said and then wished I could take the words back. Nobody likes to be called young. To try and fix it I looked at her and guessed her age, and then added a year to make her feel better. "How old are you, fifteen?"

She scowled at me. "Sixteen."

Oops. "Sorry." I said awkwardly. Red was wearing a leather jacket and leather pants with a spiked silver belt and some silver skull rings. She had her eyebrow pierced with a silver barbell and her eyes were done dark. She was tall and rather willowy so in any other person it would look awkward but she carried it well. Her combat boots were spiked and I was sure that there were steel toes in them as well. But, underneath all that makeup and leather was a young girl- well, I guess not so young since she is only a year younger than me, but she seems younger.

"Whatever. I have your charts. We did some blood tests while you were out and we came up with something weird." she handed me the clipboard and I scanned the page.

"This can't be right. That makes no sense." I said as I read. The charts were saying that I was already a shadow hunter. It said that my genes hadn't been changed by anything recently. "I would have noticed if I was seeing things that shouldn't exist."

"Not if you had a block on your mind. One of the girls who lives here experienced it when she was sixteen. Her mother put a block in her mind so that she wouldn't see the supernatural." Red explained and took back the clipboard.

"How do you check if I had- or have a block in my mind?" I asked, rubbing at my head. I did not like the idea that someone could mess with my thoughts like that. I felt almost violated.

"We will send for the Silent Brothers." she answered and then left the room.

"So sleeping beauty awakes at last." Harry said when Red was out of the room, sprawling out more on the bed next to me.

I rolled my eyes. "You would want to sleep forever too if you had been through what I had." my mind flashed back to when my dad had smashed his head against the ground and when my sisters and mother had dropped dead. The images of their dead bodies and their unseeing eyes were imprinted on my eyelids. I fought the growing lump in my throat and turned my thoughts to other things. I started to sit up but then I remembered my lack of clothing and sighed. "I don't suppose either of you have some clothes I can wear?"

Dragon laughed and handed me a stack of clothing. "Put these on."

I nodded and waited for them to turn around, which neither of them did. "Is privacy a foreign concept to you?" I snapped.

"Is flirtation a foreign concept to you?" Dragon smirked and the other way, and Harry turned as well.

"If you think that is the right way to flirt you definitely are in need of a clue." I quickly slipped on the underwear and bra, and then took a little more time with the other two. At least all my important parts were covered now. I slipped the black jeans on and pulled the black hoodie over my head. The hoodie was very baggy so I was assuming it was a males. The sleeves hung three inches past my fingers and the bottom of the hoodie was mid-thigh. "I'm done." I said as I pulled on a pair of socks.

Harry laughed at me. "If you didn't look so cute in that sweater I would call you homeless."

"I am homeless now, you douche." I snapped and finished lacing up a pair of black combat boots. They were a bit snug but they were fine for now. I was noticing a trend in the way these people dressed. "I don't want to stay in here any longer. Thank you for fixing me but now I need to go." I started walking to the doors. I was going to go and fix my problems myself. I didn't want to stay in this place any longer.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Dragon called.

"Anywhere but here." I answered stiffly and didn't stop. They both ran to catch up with me.

"You can't leave!" Harry said, shocked.

"Actually, I can. Unless you are keeping me captive, and then I wouldn't be leaving, I would be escaping." I pushed through the big oak doors and began walking down a long, dark hallway. The floor was wooden and the walls held many pictures and paintings of an angel.

"You wont last alone. We can help you." Dragon protested.

"I have had enough of everyone's help. All I want is to go and pretend like this never happened. Don't you get that? I lost my entire family! Not only am I an orphan but I don't even have my sisters either! I am completely and totally alone and if I go to my extended family the men will just come and find me there too. I have nothing but myself and my free will anymore. Don't you _dare _try taking that away from me." I said harshly, tears threatening to spill.

Dragon stepped back with his hands up in a position of surrender. "Fine, but don't say that we never tried to help."

"You never help anyone, Dragon. You're too annoying." A young girl laughed as she walked around the corner. She had curly golden hair to her shoulders and hazel-green eyes. Her nose and cheeks were lightly spotted with freckles and she looked like she didn't have a care in the world. She was only a few inches shorter than me but she was so skinny and undeveloped that I knew she was young. She could only have been about eleven or twelve. "You must be Atera." she smiled. She was wearing the cutest flowery dress and my heart melted. She reminded me of my sister Amy.

"Yes." I nodded stiffly.

"I'm Jespera but most people just call me Jez. Don't let these two bother you-" she leaned in and whispered to me, "they're not used to girls who aren't family being in the institute." she giggled.

I snorted. "I can tell." I whispered back, and she stepped back.

"What did you say?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." Jez giggled and grabbed my hand. "Do you like girly things?"

I nodded. "I love them."

She grinned and jumped up and down, pulling me along. "Then you need to come and see all my dresses. I'm sure Captain will let you go out and get some clothes. He's very nice, one of the nice boys here. Those two are just annoying. They think that they are the most amazing attractive boys out there." she babbled happily. I didn't want to let her but this girl was forcing herself into my heart already. I guess I would be staying, but only to take care of her. She was too much like my sister. I failed my sisters so I would not fail her.

"Hopefully." I laughed. "I have a feeling they didn't keep the clothes I was wearing in the dungeon."

"Oh, no. They burnt those ones. They were so gross and smelly that we just couldn't save them."

"I wouldn't want them anyways." I answered. I was in no hurry to be reminded of what had happened or what I had lost, and those clothes would have been one of the many things that did. It was all the better for me, even if I only had one pair of clothes now. Some people don't even have that much.

She opened a door and led me into an overwhelmingly pink bedroom. There were stuffies everywhere and there was a dresser, a large bed and a closet. There was also a bathroom attached. She opened her closet and began pulling her dresses out and showing them to me. "There aren't that many girls here. There is only me, Red, Iz and Clary, and Red doesn't like girly things and the other two are like twenty eight so they don't like to play as much." she paused and looked up at me with her big, innocent eyes. "We can be liked sisters!" she squeaked happily.

The thought of my sisters drove a dagger into my chest. No, I did not want to replace my sisters. So I wouldn't. I would just add one. "Yeah, we can." I smiled, and she hugged me tightly, breaking my heart. This poor girl hasn't been loved enough by a girl obviously. Everyone needs a mother.

Too bad mine is gone.

**That is chapter five! I hope you like it! PLEASE REVIEW :) It really does make this worth it.**


	6. Chapter 6

I don't know what to think of life anymore. Only days ago I was ready to let it go, to die and let it finally finish. Now, after getting a taste of what freedom is like after being emotionally tortured like that, I don't want to die anymore. The faces of my dead family members will flash across my eyelids until the day that I die and it will haunt me in my dreams for the rest of my life.

Someone once said that happiness can only fill you as deep as pain has carved you. I used to think that that was a huge lie. My life before had had its problems and sometimes I had wondered why my life was so awful. Now, P.C. (post capture) I feel like everything I took advantage of before is beautiful. I stop to smell all the flowers, metaphorical and otherwise. I treat every day like it is my last.

Who knows? It might just be.

I rolled over onto my back and stared at the roof of my temporary bedroom. The Silent Brothers would be here in a few hours and from what Jez had told me, they were not the most pleasant people to look at, if they could even be called people. Today would be the day where I would see if someone had put a block on my mind and tricked me into thinking I was human. That thought was daunting in itself. Not being human. The title 'human' was safe. It was my nice, soft blanket of protection against the scary and the unknown. If I didn't have that not only was my sense of safety gone, but then my entire life had been a lie. It would have been built on the premise of my humanity even though I was not human, and I did not want that. I wanted my old, human life back. I wanted things to be normal. I even wanted to go back to school and be the normal, boring girl I once was.

"Time to get up." I sighed to myself. I walked to the bathroom and stepped into the shower, turning the water to extra hot. I stood under the water for over a half hour, letting it heat me and relax me. For these few minutes I could pretend I was back at home in my shower and everything was fine. Too soon I was all washed and finished and I stepped out into the cool air, goosebumps rising on my skin.

Clothes had been delivered to me yesterday. Where they had come from, I had no idea, but they fit and were nice enough. I would have to go out and buy my own soon. I threw on a pair of black skinny jeans and baggy black sweatshirt. At first I had found the lack of colour here odd, but now I kind of liked it. Black was empty of all colour, just like my life now. As great as all the little things are, and the 'flowers', it was ruined every time I thought about my family.

I went out and wandered around the halls, trying to find the kitchen. Every hallway looked the same and there were so many turns that I had lost myself. Even if I gave up on the kitchen now, I would not be able to find my way back to my bedroom. "This is probably the most annoying place to navigate ever..." I muttered darkly to myself.

"Should have brought bread crumbs." Dragon smirked. He was in plain black jeans and a black leather jacket. He was wearing a blue shirt underneath which brought out his eyes.

"I would, if I could find the freaking kitchen." I scowled. I was hungry, and mornings always made me grumpy.

"Allow me." he gestured in the direction that I had come from and we began walking. "So you're going to meet the Silent Brothers today."

"Yep." I answered, digging my hands into my sweater pockets.

"You will find out about the block-or lackthereof- on your mind." he continued, seemingly not bothered at all by my lack of response.

"Your point?" I asked. He was beginning to irritate me.

"Here's the kitchen!" he pointed and opened the door with a flourish. Typical non-answer.

The kitchen was full of food and people. It smelled amazing, like pasta and fish and spices. There were at least eleven people in there, all just lounging aroun or sitting on counters. The kitchen table seemed like more of a decoration than a useful household object.

Everyone stopped and looked at me, as if I was something different and new that they had never seen before. I blushed and turned away, trying to make myself invisible.

Captain walked up and threw his arm around me and brought me out in front of the rest of them, grabbing both of my shoulders. "Everyone, this is Atera. Atera, you've met a few of the people here. Allow me to introduce you to the rest." he walked me over to two boys who looked very similar. The one was very tall and about my age. His hair was white-blonde and he had bright green eyes. He had the standard shadowhunter muscle, but it was more understated than the other's. The other boy had honey-blonde hair but he had the same bright green eyes as the boy who I could only assume was his older brother. "Atera, this is Ion," he pointed to the taller, white-blonde one, "and this is Baz." he pointed the the other, honey-blonde one. Baz was younger, probably about fifteen. He was an inch shorter than me and had the same smile as Jez. "They are Jez's brothers." Well that explained the resemblance.

I smiled at them and then we walked over to the next group of people. They were all probably ten years older than me, closer to twenty-eight than eighteen. They all smiled, except one man who was tall and dark-haired with blue eyes.

"This is Alec, the man who co-runs the institute with me." he gestured to the unfriendly dark-haired man.

"Hi," I said politely and tried a smile, but Alec just nodded back. He didn't seem to like me that much.

"This is Isabelle," Captain continued. He gestured to a tall, curvy, dark-haired woman who smiled at me.

"Pleasure. Don't mind my brother." she motioned to Alec. "He is just grumpy in the mornings."

I snorted. "I can tell."

"Finally, this is Jace and his wife, Clary." he gestured to a short, slim, fiery haired woman and a tall, golden haired man.

"I know what you're going through." Clary said sympathetically. "I found out when I was sixteen that my mother had been putting a block on my mind to hide this world from me." She absently touched her stomach in a way that made me wonder if she was pregnant. That was a thought for another time.

"I don't know yet if my parents did anything like that." I responded quickly. "This is just to see what is wrong with me."

Everyone there gave me weird looks. "Being a shadowhunter doesn't mean that there is something wrong with you. You're just different, more powerful than a regular mundane." Jace stated, though he looked like he believed differently. He held an air of superiority that Dragon shared. Maybe this is where Dragon learned it.

I bit my lip, embarassed that I had said something like that. That wasn't how I had meant it. I just wanted to figure out if I was different or not. I just wanted to be sure of who I was again, even if who I had been wasn't the same person as who I was now."I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. This is just a lot to take in, you know? Just weeks ago I was in school and now I'm in a place called the 'Institute' and I may or may not be a creature that I didn't know existed before." I ran my hand through my hair and then tucked it behind my ear. It swayed around my waist.

Clary nodded and smiled sympathetically at me again. It was like she knew exactly how I was feeling. Who knows? Maybe it was like this for her at the beginning. All this duality, feeling like it is going to tear you apart from the inside out. Feeling like you don't even know who you are anymore, or what the world is anymore. Suddenly the world is this whole new place and sometimes you feel like you are so lucky because you got out of this awful situation, but then it seems like that situation will always haunt you. Sometimes it just seems so hopeless.

"Here, have a brownie." I smiled at Dragon, grateful of his constant need to poke his nose into other people's things just this once. I nodded one last time at that group and turned to Dragon, munching my brownie. "Why do you have fish and pasta out for breakfast?" I asked in between bites of brownie.

He shrugged. "We are stronger than mundanes so we need something with more energy for breakfast."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is everything you do based on the fact that you are better than the mundanes?"

He shrugged. "We are here to protect them, so of course we are better."

"That's so arrogant!" I said, shocked. "Humans are just a good as you shadowstalkers." I scowled.

"Shadow_hunters_." he corrected me, arrogance in even that little correction.

"You think you're so much better than everyone else, don't you?" I snapped.

He leant back against the counter and shrugged. "When you know, you know."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to go find someone where I wont get infected by stupidity." I left quickly and stalked down the hall, stopping at the end. I had to meet the Silent Brothers in the infirmary and I had no idea how to get there, and I wasn't going back to the kitchen to ask Dragon for help. I stuffed my hands into my pockets and debated the best way to go about this. I could either sit here and wait for someone to walk out of the kitchen, or I could wander the halls and hope that at some point I would find my way to the infirmary.

"Need any help?" Harry said, appearing out of nowhere behind me.

My heart stopped and I squeaked, fear lancing through me and then fading quickly. "Dear lord, you just scared the living daylights out of me." my hand was at my chest and I was trying to get my breathing back to normal.

"Sorry." he grinned. He didn't seem very sorry at all. The light in his dark brown eyes told me that he had enjoyed scaring me all too much. He was much taller than me and so just like with most of the others I had to look up at him. He used his size to his advantage and positioned himself so that the only way I could go was back toward the kitchen or closer to him.

"I have no idea how to get to the infirmary." I admitted sheepishly.

"You're in luck, I know exactly where it is." he laughed and we started walking together. When we got there I thanked him and entered alone. Now all I could do was wait for the Silent Brothers.

They took their time getting there, but when they finally arrived I was terrified. My palms were sweating and my heart was beating fast. I was almost more scared than I had been at the cave. At least there I knew exactly what I was in for. I had to stop myself from screaming when I saw them. They were awful looking, with no eyes and mouths that were sewn shut.

_Hello, Atera._ One said, though I'm not sure which since neither of them opened their mouths. Not that they could, but still.

I shivered at the feel of his mind in mine and unconsciously began to fight them. Their presence in my mind felt hot and it seared where it touched. It was not nice or inviting and I just wanted it to stop. While they looked at the pictures in my mind, the things they looked at continued to pop up and flash before my eyes. I felt hands wrap around my arms.

"Wait. You need to tell her what you're doing before you start!" Captain said.

I blinked furiously and slowly the world came back into focus. "You can't go through my mind like that!" I cried, half hysterical. I was gasping and leaning into whoever had grabbed my arms. Whoever it was felt strong and steady and smelled really good, like sandalwood and boy. I looked up and was surprised to see Dragon standing there. He had his arms supporting mine and he didn't seem to mind that I was leaning into him for support.

_Very well. We are searching your mind for any blocks, and for confirmation that you are a shadowhunter._ The Silent Brother stated, and then I felt his presence in my mind again. I began shaking again and struggling against his presence.

"Don't fight it, Atera." Dragon whispered. "You'll only hurt yourself."

I stopped shaking slowly and just let them go through my mind, tears streaming down my face as pictures of my sisters and parents flashed across my mind. There was me at three years old, and then me at five, going to the farm with my family. Us at the beach when I was eight. My playing football with them and our cousins in the water. Me with a broken toe. Amy with a cut knee. The three of us crying together when our parents were fighting. Us lying together in our last moments before the men came. Amy asking about heaven. I could not see the world around me, only the world inside my head. I could feel my body shaking, and I could hear my sobs but they were white noise and the words in my mind were what my body was focusing on.

_"Do you think that there is a God?" Amy asked me._

_I nodded at her. "I think so. I mean, if there isn't someone up there who loves me, why would you guys love me?" I said, and that seemed to satisfy her._

_"So you think that we will go to heaven and see mum and dad?" she asked again, tears bright in her eyes._

_"Yes, I think that God is gentle and kind, and so heaven is an extra special place. You get to be happy all the time there." I smiled. "You wont need to worry about anything here anymore."_

_"That's good. That way I don't need to be scared." she smiled slightly and so did Joss._

_Joss' smile turned into a gasp of pain, and then her eyes rolled back into her head with one last scream and she flopped to the ground. Seconds later Amy did the same._

"Stop it! You have your answers, stop hurting her!" Dragon snapped, cradling my head in his lap. I wondered absently how I had gotten into this position and I blinked the room back into focus. My body was shaking and I sniffled. I felt so weak, so torn apart that I wasn't even upset that Captain, Dragon and Alec had just seen me crying.

"Are you happy now? Are you happy that I had to relive the death of my sisters? Do you have your answers now?" I snapped, my voice breaking. I tried to push myself up, but my arms were shaking too much to help me.

_We have got our answers, but they are troubling. It seems that she was given the elixir, but it wore off. She was a shadowhunter, but now she is not. It seems that the elixir Eris is using is not yet perfected._ The Silent Brother explained.

"But the test said..." I hiccuped, shock going through my body. Shock and a mix or relief and disappointment. "What do I do then?" I asked.

"Well for now you will stay here because obviously Eris wants you, and you need to be protected." Captain answered. Alec didn't look happy but he nodded in agreement. I didn't know if it was me or the fact that I was human, but this man really did not like me.

_That is not all we found out. This girl is a relative of Johnathan shadowhunter. Johnathan shadowhunter's brother is her great great great great great great great great great-_

"We get it, there are a lot of greats, get on with it." Dragon snapped.

If Silent Brothers could scowl, I'm sure this one would have. His tone was monotonous but he managed to add a bit of acidity to his reply, _As I was saying, he is her great great etcetera grandfather. That is probably why Eris chose her family. _

"Who is Johnathan?" I asked, bewildered.

"He was the first shadowhunter." Alec answered, but he was more looking at the Silent Brother than anyone else. "So she is more important than we realized..." he muttered, working something out in his head.

"I'm right here..." I said, trying once again to push myself up into a seating position and failing miserably.

"And we should get you out of here." Dragon said to me, swinging me up easily into his arms. He didn't look so arrogant now. He actually looked quite attractive like this, looking down at me with his cerulean eyes, his brow furrowed in concern. His eyes searched my face for something, what it was I couldn't be sure. His eyes rested for a few long seconds on my lips and then they returned to my eyes. The heat of his body was comforting. He was so strong and reassuringly _there_. He had rescued me, and I mean yes, Harry and Captain had both been there but from the beginning he had seen the ordeal I had been through.

"Thank you." I smiled weakly. I felt so tired, like every limb weighed a thousand pounds, and even my eyelids were beginning to get heavy.

"For what?" he scowled a little, his arrogance showing through.

"Don't do that." I lifted my arm with a lot of difficulty and smoothed out his features with my fingers. "For watching out for me." I murmured, feeling fatigue sending me deeper into dream mode.

He looked genuinely surprised at that comment. "I'm just doing my job."

"No, you're not." I laughed a little.

"Don't tell me what I am and am not doing." he snapped, his face turning back into the mask of arrogance that he always wore. His muscles tensed and he suddenly looked like he wanted to drop me off in my bedroom and then escape.

"It's okay to feel things." I whispered, my eyelids closing. I tried to open them again but they were glued shut, so I stopped fighting it. "Dragons have hearts too..." I finished.

The last thing I heard before I went to sleep was so quiet that I wasn't sure if I had imagined it or not. "That's what I'm afraid of." he whispered and then I fell fast asleep.

**Please review my pretties! I can see that you are following the story so please, if you read this REVIEW! I love you all:)**


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